The remains of POW/MIA Sergeant Howard ‘Gordon’ Malcolm finally made it home for visitation and graveside services that were held on Tuesday 52 years after his death in North Korea.
Surviving niece Theresa Malcolm-Slater of Salem was born in 1950 and never met her uncle who had enlisted a year before she was born.
“It’s joyful. I shed tears, but they are tears of joy because he was gone so long. I said you watch the stories on tv, and I just assumed he was at the bottom of a swamp or cave or something. But to find out he was missing in action, taken to a POW camp, died there and he had been buried in Hawaii and now he gets buried with a name. And he’s going to be buried in Bethel and that is where my father and one brother is.”
Slater says news of his identification was totally unexpected.
“Since my father couldn’t find out anything I just put it aside. It was a shock when they called and said they actually identified him. It turned out my aunt and uncle had given some DNA and it matched along with dental records. It’s just a wonderful thing to have him home.”
The US Army Casualty Assistance Officer Captain Francis Williams III said Malcolm had been captured and taken to a prisoner of war camp where he is thought to have died from malnutrition most likely due to a mouth disease.
“At the end of the Korean War there was an agreement between Korean, North Korean governments and the US government to be able to retrieve those remains. His remains have been in Hawaii since then. So last October they were identified through DNA analysis, his teeth records and using some 3rd party reports from 3 of the soldiers that were with him in the camp, we were able to identify his remains.”
Williams says the military operation ‘No One Left Behind’ will likely identify many more Korean and Vietnam War missing in action as a result of the new technology.
About 40 members of the Patriot Guard, Rolling Thunder, and Combat Veterans Motorcycle Association accompanied the remains of Sergeant Malcolm following visitation at the Rankin-Sutherland Funeral Home to the Bethel Cemetery where graveside services were held. The Patriot Guard also presented a flag and plaque honoring Sergeant Malcolm to Slater at the funeral home.
Region 7 Senior Ride Captain for the Patriot Guard Riders presents the flag to Theresa (Malcolm) Slater during the Tuesday funeral visitation. Photo by Bruce Kropp.
Patriot Guard Riders Dan Warren presented the Malcolm family with a plaque in memory of POW/MIA Sergeant Howard ‘Gordon’ Malcolm. Photo by Bruce Kropp.
Members of three motorcycle groups who honor fallen military gather at the Sutherland Rankin Funeral Home in Salem on Tuesday. (Photo by Bruce Kropp)
